1. Technical Field
The present invention relates in general to an electronic cookbook and in particular to a method, system and program for managing an electronic cookbook. Still more particularly, the present invention relates to a method, system and program for managing an electronic cookbook to meet the dietary needs of multiple diverse users.
2. Description of the Related Art
As the tide is turning towards a paperless world, computers are becoming more prevalent in order to replace many functions previously performed utilizing paper. In particular, computing devices, such as personal digital assistants, laptop computers and cellular/digital telephones are becoming more commonplace as a personal, portable computer system. Such devices are typically designed to provide reliable and efficient transmittal and storage of data. For example, many digital telephones not only include capabilities to transmit and receive voice data, but to transmit and receive electronic data such as stock quotes, current weather and news. A small display device is typically provided to display the electronic data.
In the cooking world, multiple types of recipes and meal plans have been moved into an electronic format. For example, a user can purchase an electronic cookbook device with a kitchen friendly output monitor that contains multiple searchable recipes and can be updated with new recipes. In addition, meal plans for specific types of events, such as a Halloween party may be included. Some electronic cookbook devices further include functions for filtering recipes according to criteria entered by the user such as calories/serving, fat/serving and particular ingredients.
In addition to electronic cookbook devices, the Internet provides access to multiple diverse web sites comprising hundreds and thousands of electronic recipes. Typically, a user can search the electronic recipes at each web site according to criteria such as ingredients, type of cuisine, etc. In addition, a user may search web sites according to meal plans available at the web site. For example, the web site cooking.com provides multiple searchable recipes and designated meal plans that are accessible to any user.
However, current electronic recipes and cookbooks accessed either through a device or through the Internet are limited. It would be advantageous to utilize an electronic cookbook that is enabled to learn dietary needs of typical occupants, learn the dietary needs of visitors, and manage recipe selections accordingly. In learning typical occupants and visitors dietary needs, electronic recipes and meal plans accessible to the electronic cookbook from multiple sources are preferably automatically filtered according to the dietary needs. In addition to filtering electronic recipes and meal plans based on dietary needs, the electronic cookbook preferably has access to data such as the current environment, food already consumed by occupants and visitors that day or week, exercise performed by occupants and visitors that day or week, current medication usage for the occupants and visitors and other food and health related data that may be utilized to filter electronic recipes and meal plans for typical occupants and/or visitors. Moreover, the food and kitchen supplies available for the user in preparing meals are preferably utilized by the electronic cookbook to filter electronic recipes and meal plans for preparation in a particular kitchen.